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Thursday, July 08, 2010

ALA 2010: Laura's Life

One of my favorite things about going to conferences is meeting other bloggers.

As you know, I am on the Schneider Family Book Award Committee. That is how I found out about Laura Rodgers of the blog Laura's Life; here are some of the awesome and touching things Laura said about this Award: "I am in LOVE with this award because these books are great books AND they talk about disability appropriately; as a kid growing up with a disability I like to see books where the characters look like me and I get really annoyed when characters with disability are talked about using outdated and wrong language. The Schneider Family Books are great and I hope having this award improves how all authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers include disability."

Who is Laura? From her blog, "I am a 4th grader at Stonegate Elementary School in Zionsville, Indiana, and live "in the middle of nowhere", rural Indiana. Several years ago as a second grader I decided to read all the Newbery Medal winners before I got to middle school. For me middle school starts in 5th grade. I became interested in this goal when my mother told me about a Newbery Club her elementary school had. After I set my goal I realized that it was way easier when my mom did it (there were fewer books and middle school did not start until 7th grade for her). As it turns out I reached my goal with time to spare. You can read more about me at: http://lauramitolife.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-about-me.html "

Yes, Laura is ten and has read all the Newberys. And is reading the new books to figure out what will be next year's pick. And has also decided to read thru the Schneider Family Book Awards. And another thing - part of the reason Laura is amazing? Her parents and their support. They took their family vacation to make it into an ALA trip for Laura. Her mother was at ALA with her, and pretty much said Laura selects the books she wants to read, I sometimes read them with her, why would I tell her not to read something? Laura's most recent reading? Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen.

L, Shelly, Toby, I love that Laura achieved this, especially since I don't know many people who have!

There's always some buzz about how "kids don't like Newbery winners" etc. so its also nice to have a reminder that kids are different, and some kids are attracted to the gold seal and will like the books. Or at least some; Laura is honest that she didn't love them all!

Daily, I do certain things that in the book reviewing world are acts of courage. I use my own name. While I omit specifics about my work...

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